Florida once more is considering the elimination of the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC)
John Brink – December 18, 2025
Earlier in 2025, the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill that would have deregulated several professional accreditations within Florida and abolished commissions/regulatory bodies that exist as part of the larger Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), overseeing those professions. One is the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), the seven-member board that regulates real estate licensees and their education within Florida. The bill, similar to one considered in April, eliminates several bodies within the Florida state government that oversee the licensing and education of professionals like real estate agents and brokers.
Abolishing the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) is a bad idea. FREC is a purpose-built body inside Florida’s Department of Business and “Professional” Regulation (DBPR) that focuses on real estate licensing, education, and discipline, and Florida law is designed so that the FREC includes multiple experienced, actively licensed brokers plus public members. Oversight in this case matters. Therefore, Florida needs the FREC.
Keep the FREC. Raise the bar. Shrink the pool of “part-timers” in the real estate profession, and the public will be better served, and the reputation of real estate professionals will improve.
Florida’s real issue in residential real estate isn’t whether we have “too many boards.” It’s that the barrier to entering and staying in the business is too low, so we end up with far too many part-time, low-experience agents handling complex transactions. That’s a big reason our profession has a public reputation problem: one sloppy deal (missed deadlines, weak disclosure guidance, poor negotiation, bad contract handling) doesn’t just hurt one client—it damages trust in all agents.
To be clear: I respect the REALTOR® Code of Ethics and the idea of a professional standard. But if we’re going to talk about “professionalism,” then we should also be honest about the optics nobody likes to say out loud: trade associations survive by membership volume. Florida Realtors alone represents about 238,000 members, and “more members” naturally means “more dues” paid to the organization. Florida Realtors state association filings show CEO compensation listed at $731K (plus other compensation).
Executive compensation at the national level is even more ridiculous. It’s only fair to question leadership compensation: NAR’s 2024 reporting shows CEO compensation totaling $2.55M+ (including other comp) and the 2024 President at $357K.
We need to fix the reputation problem and protect consumers. The conversation should be about raising standards:
- Make Realtor membership a higher bar (full-time professionalism and meaningful experience), not just a bigger headcount play.
- Higher competency standards to keep an active license (not just “seat-time” CE).
- Real supervision expectations for newer/low-volume agents—this shouldn’t be a solo sport right out of the gate.
“Professionals” work full-time. We need fewer, better-trained, better-supervised “professional” real estate agents, managing brokers, and organizations that measure success by quality, not headcount.
John Brink, Broker Owner
941.928.5555 / john.brink@srqpr.com
“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around,” Jim Rohn
